A pastime for #SiteC watchers is monitoring how unseasonably full the WAC Bennett dam's reservoir is above Site C.
Hydro can't build #SiteC unless the WAC Bennett dam can reduce the flow of the Peace River so Hydro can divert it away from the dam site. But WAC is full. #bcpoli
..WAC Bennett dam's reservoir is Williston Lake. For dam safety it must be kept below 672m or "full pond." WAC's been releasing lots of water to try & reduce levels so they can later hold back water to help divert river @ #SiteC. But it's stuck at 670m: bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/o…
...Normally at this time of year the WAC Bennett dam's Williston reservoir,--the world's 7th largest reservoir by volume--is low & so is the Peace River. But with climate change & unseasonably heavy summer rains, the reservoir & the river are as full as at spring freshet...
...Despite extremely high water levels in a full, fast-moving river that isn't called The Mighty Peace for nothing, BC Hydro says it will try to divert the river this fall anyway.
Note: every year river diversion is delayed costs us over $600m. Already happened once. #bcpoli
So you can see why clicking on the water levels of the Williston reservoir has become obsessive for some. bchydro.com/energy-in-bc/o…
Engineer adds - as engineers so often do - that with the danger of landslides around the banks of Peace reservoirs, "freeboard" (free area between reservoir surface and top of dam) need to be high enough to withstand a landslide-caused wave. Overtopping waves cause dam failures.
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